Ozzy Osbourne moved with his wife and kids to start a new life in Los Angeles 20 years ago, then took America by storm by allowing cameras into their fascinatingly dysfunctional family life.
The Osbournes ran for three years, quickly becoming MTV’s most-watched programme ever. It won an Emmy and a legion of fans worldwide, and, of course, paved the way for The Kardashians.
So it goes without saying that news that the BBC is bringing back the reality show as the family return to Britain has been met with unbridled excitement... from everyone, that is, except Ozzy.
He says: “I don’t know how The Kardashians have done it for so long – it sent us crazy at the end.”
The hard rock icon says he is still traumatised by the effect The Osbournes had on him and his family, revealing he only agreed to the sequel to help his wife Sharon relaunch her TV career.
The 10-part series, Home to Roost, will follow Ozzy and Sharon as they attempt to settle back into their lives in a Buckinghamshire village, with the support of 38-year-old daughter Kelly, who became a mum last year, and 37-year-old son Jack, now a dad of four.
The family will be seen relocating from Beverly Hills to their 120-year-old Grade II listed home, Welders House, with cameras documenting the ups and downs of their big move, as well as Sharon’s 70th birthday in October and the birth of Kelly’s baby.
Ozzy, though, admits he was unsure about letting cameras back into their lives after blaming the original show on Kelly and Jack’s dangerous descent into drug addiction and alcohol abuse.
Sharon and Ozzy’s eldest daughter Aimee, 39, refused to take part in the show, but the Black Sabbath frontman, 74, says he came to feare for the lives of Jack and Kelly, prompting him to finally call time on The Osbournes in 2005.
He says: “I am not sorry I did it, but after three or four years I said, ‘Do you know what, we’re going to lose somebody because it is getting too crazy’.
“There is rock and roll fame, which is pretty intense, but that Osbourne level was just unbelievable. The kids paid for it. They all ended up doing drugs. Jack got clean and sober on that show, Kelly messed up on that show, I was messed up and Sharon got cancer.”
He admits he is “deeply nervous” about how the pressure of 24-hour filming and TV fame will affect his mental health this time round.
Speaking on his Sirius XM channel, he says: “I always wanted to know what it would have been like when Beatlemania was around. I had that with The Osbournes, let me tell you. I remember going into McDonald’s for a pee. When I came out of the bathroom the whole restaurant was outside screaming at me.”
He finally agreed to do Home to Roost after Sharon was fired from hit US chat show The Talk after 11 years. She had clashed with co-host Sheryl Underwood before being accused of “toxic and racist behaviour” by crew members.
Ozzy says: “My wife sort of dropped something on me that the BBC are doing The Osbournes returning to England. I said, ‘We are not having all that again’. But she said it is only for a bit. It gave Sharon a new career. She has become the television person in our family. Poor old Sharon. She’s been through the mill of it. All I can tell you is that if my wife was slightly racist I would tell you. She’s possibly the most unracist person I’ve ever met. I am not just saying that.
“I mean it’s still an unpleasant issue. It’s one of those things once you’re accused of it, people tar you with that brush and it’s very hard to shake off.
“This is another bump in the road. We will get through this. She was devastated. She was like, ‘Why are they saying this about me?’”
In his TV return, we will see Ozzy’s health struggles as he tries to be fit to return to the stage after a fall at home in January 2019, which dislodged rods in his back and neck.
He says: “That was nearly four years ago. It is really awful what is going on. It is a nightmare. Sometimes I forget. I am lying on the couch, go to get up and I cannot do that any more.
“My sense of balance is all over the place. I have physical therapy and am trying to do things on my own. Progress is... f***ing hell, you have no idea. The thing is my head is alright, my creativity is okay, my singing okay, but I just can’t f***ing walk much now.
“But I am determined to be back on stage even if I am nailed to a board with wheels on it.”
Fans were shocked at recent photos of him in an LA supermarket, looking weary and uncomfortable, barely able to walk a few feet with a support cane.
But he says: “I still have a lot in the tank. I’m determined to get back on the stage again. I’m still in recovery, and I have a goal. And my goal is to get back on stage. It’s the driving force in me. I miss my audience. I miss doing gigs. I miss my crew. I miss my band. I miss the whole thing.
“My family has been so good. I am the man of the family, but I have never been this laid up in my life.”
Ozzy and Sharon celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in July last year, and he has no regrets on how his career and life have played out.
He says: “People say, ‘Would you change anything?’ Well no, because it would affect where I am now.
“My life has been incredible – both good and bad. I remember when I brought out my first Black Sabbath I thought this will do for a couple of albums, and here we are 50-odd years later still doing it.
“It is amazing, it keeps me young at heart. You realise how lucky you are.”
In his solo career, he has done 13 studio albums, five live albums and 65 singles and had unexpected success with his latest album, Patient Number 9, which reached No1 in the US and is up for Best Rock Album at next month’s Grammys.
He says: “Patient Number 9 going well feels good. It saved my ass, because I was in a real bad place. Doing music is the only thing I know.
“Ozzy Osbourne cannot sing about boy meets girl. It’s about being in a mental hospital. I have a lot of practice thinking about mental hospitals –spend a week in my house.”
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